It wont dissolve in aqua regia after a 2hr boil. The nugget fell apart and became finely divided then just falls along bottom of the flask like liquid metal.

I heated it too an orange glow and it didnt tarnish. It also survived a good 12hour roast amongst my sulfides.

Its metal. My detector sounds off on it.

With an n52 50mm magnet i can almost make it wobble. Not drag or lift. Just the slightest wobble.
I dont think it even does that now after the aqua regia boil.

I tested with stannous. Solution had a tiny yellowy greeny hue i followed lazersteves guide test for rhodium. I couldnt get a match or confirmation but id made the AR with zinc nitrate as it was all i had to hand it may effect this test? The same solution batch gave a positive blue for palladium on mlccs earlier though.

Ive a feeling all i did was remove impurities. density around that of lead BUT saying that the lead wont be pure so i cant be exact. Less than mercury though

Heres a 30xpic

20171213_091119.jpg

And 60x

20171213_091347.jpg

If i cant prove what it is by eliminating what it cant be will give me the answer so does anyone know what else this element could possibly be?
Or tests i can do?
Thanks a lot

Btw i did originally have a lump of it, more than an ounce. I mistakenly smashed it up with my sulfides. But its all still in there waiting for me lol.

All i can find whats similar is chromite. But unless im way off with the density. But id panned sized material and this was after magnetite hematite etc sat with the lead and a few tiny black unknown crystals

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I think my confusion could be theres alloys rather than pure elemental values to go by.
Heres a pic what survived the roast. Some golds come out the sulfides. Not much but its there.
Theres some more of the lustrous metal. Both in small tiny particles very hard to see and a couple larger nuggets completly unaffected by the roast.
I cant get my picture colour right to show best what im meaning.

20171213_210739.jpg

Densest materials are in the top half.

I dont have the equipment to perform an adequate smelt.
So ive added a couple litres acid to the residues to dissolve away what will.
Solutions gone green. Theres needle like white crystals forming on the surface and dropping down.
Some base metals have displaced and precipitated from me heating and cooling a saturated solution so il change the acid and give it a few days to leach them back out.

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What i think this was is it may very well been from primitive foundrys. copper-bronze age.
Ive since found palstave axe heads, stone age skinning tools, copper hairpin several inches long and foundry slag. there was on occasion some circular clay type circular foundations i would think are like a bloomery or draft furnace.
Theres also some roman activity in the area.

i cant realistically believe itd be a natural PGM nugget not that size. Chromium would be the most likely, but it fails one of the standard tests.

i tried for almost 12hours to dissolve it in aqua regia with very limited success.
Its not arsenic, i heated it too yellow, no melting, no tarnishing.

Ive some hcl and hydrogen peroxide handy il get it into solution for a more definitive test in the next few days. ( id forgit about it tbh)

If you keep on doing what you've always done then you'll just keep on getting what you've always got.

"If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, or watch the things you gave your life to broken, and stoop and build ‘em up with wornout tools" -- Rudyard Kipling

"The best diplomat that I know is a fully-loaded phaser bank." -- Lt. Cdr. Montgomery Scott